Tuesday, 20 September 2016

Faith, Religion & Spirituality // #blankthoughts

A couple of weeks ago I was caught up in a good debate
between a few people about religion, and our views on it. It was a ‘no offence
said no offence taken’ kind of discussion, meaning that whatever amount of
knowledge we did or didn’t have meant we were able to speak freely and more
importantly learn/acknowledge/appreciate each others opinions.

As a child, I was christened Church of England Christianity,
I attended a Primary School that encouraged a belief in God, and that he was responsible
for all of the good that happened in the world. Both of my parents are
christened, (my Dad is also C of E and my Mum is Catholic), and I attended a
local church in order to be part of the local Rainbow/Brownie/Guide group-
(this also meant I occasionally attended Sunday School- but I’ll get to this
later.) I speak for others in my class at
Primary School, but I think as we all got older we were all aware that the ‘presence’
of God was questionable for some people, and that we could freely believe what
we wanted to.

There was a period (around two months) when I was eight
where I actively believed in God. I attended Sunday School frequently, I in
depth listened to every story involving God or Jesus during an assembly, I sat
and read my children’s Bible continuously and really opened my eyes to
Christianity. Of course, I was only eight, and I do think that part of the
excitement I had about looking at the Bible on a daily basis was seeing a
spelling of my name (Rebekah) correctly and a sensible fashion. I even remember
during my ‘not sleeping because of health reasons’ faze, I tried to write a
song about Mary and Jesus’ relationship. (If I ever find the notebook of course
I will share!) I really believed in this ‘world’ way before my time. I can’t remember
if it made me any happier, aware or different, but it was an interesting couple
of months, and to this day I still consider going back and looking into
Christianity.

Now, onto the debate, by the time I hit Secondary School I
had no belief in Christianity. I still attended Guides and would sing songs or
camp rhymes that involved God, as well as appreciating him during a prayer,
however, I couldn’t believe he was there, specifically supporting me. Although one
part of Christianity I will never ‘let go’ of is the 10 Commandments, something
I believe that should be respected by any human- religious or not (I am aware
that some religions have their equivalents to these, this is also justifiable.).
The basic morals are there within the commandments. Do not Kill. Do not Steal.
Do not Lie. Love and Respect each other. I really don’t think anyone could ever
argue a reason not to follow these rules.

Everyone goes through hard times, and I’m not here to talk
about the personal times right now, however, a debate/opinion I often hear is ‘If
there was someone up there he would put a stop to the bad in the world.’ My
question/response to this statement is, ‘Would he though?’ I am a firm believer
in everything happens for a reason, and that one day the reasons will be
explained, and yes, as I have documented, I have had my fair share of bad luck.
Some people say that all the disasters in the world are his way of controlling
the population and reminding us to care for the planet we live on, and whilst I
personally don’t agree with this, I can see why it is said.

I do believe that there is something or someone up there or out
there watching over us, this statement has always been true for me. However, I don’t
personally find myself attached to Christianity, simply as I have never been
able to solely connect to it for a long period of time which allows it to feel
like it is a part of me.